With the deluge of exclusivity announcements during E3 the big players are once again maneuvering themselves for the pound in your pocket. Cleverly tying up third-party games so that if you want to play them you have no choice of the system to play them on. This is their plan, but does it actually work?
In some cases, yes. Those who remember the Dreamcast may also remember the distinct lack of EA games on the system. No FIFA, no Madden, and, as a result, no long term prospects. Whilst some hardcore gamers may think them trifling absentees on a release schedule many more casual users were put off from taking home the Dreamcast because of the lack of big name sport franchises. This coup for Sony was ultimately played a big part in the end of Sega’s involvement in home consoles.
This is obviously an extreme example as titles chosen for exclusivity must be picked carefully. Vampire Rain, Haze, Lair, Ninja Blade, all failed to trouble those without the right system and instead just allowed the developer to pocket a large cheque at the cost of the platform holder.
The more common example of exclusivity now is timed exclusivity. Here games will be available only on of a single platform for a limited number of months before going multi-platform when the deal expires. Recent examples have involved some very big names, including Rock Band and Ghostbusters, with similar contracts hammered out for much sought after Fallout DLC and Grand Theft Auto DLC.
Motivation for tying up such deals be hard to fathom, especially for anything less than a triple-A franchise. Thoughts turn to when Beyond Good & Evil was a PS2 timed exclusive and that did nothing but harm the sales of this cult classic. I didn’t have a PS2 at the time and so eagerly awaited the Xbox release. Many other gamers, however, missed its second coming; the extremely limited fanfare it received meant that it was sent out with little hope of making a dent in the market, which was surely worse for the publisher and developer than any wedge of cash that the exclusivity had brought them.
Taking Sony’s timed exclusivity deal for the as yet unreleased Ghostbusters as a further example, do they feel the game strong enough to be a platform seller? So far the previews have been warm without setting the world ablaze. Are they attempting to hook into the feeling of nostalgia that has recently being seen with Street Fighter and Punch Out and hoping those on the fence will finally take the plunge with their shiny black box? Are they just hoping to increase software sales, forcing people’s hand as to what platform to play it on. How many Achievement lovers will gladly wait out the delay?
The ray of light is that in the current generation of consoles, where budgets are huge, true exclusives are becoming rarer in comparisons to yesteryear due to the costs that need to be reclaimed, but with that the platform holders are then desperate to gain any possible leverage over their rivals. Cost-effective timed exclusivity and unique DLC are seemingly now the weapons in this console war.
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So how do you cope with timed exclusivity? Have you ever bought a console because you couldn’t wait six months for a game to appear on your current box? Do you just wait it out? Do you think these deals actually work or are just strutting by the platform holders looking for something to impress the masses and in fact they have very little impact? Let us know your views.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife and rabbits fit in.
Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer
The Ghostbusters example makes even less sense when you consider the 360 version was made region free, so anybody desperate enough in the PS3-exclusive territories can just import it cheaply anyway.
I think this is an issue that’ll win or lose this generation of hardware to be honest. The PS2 had a lengthy tail due to titles like God of War, Final Fantasy and MGS – without exclusivity on all of those, and with a cheaper alternative on the market, timed exclusivity for titles like Ghostbusters smacks a little bit of desperation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m playing through MGS4 at the minute and when I look at the PS3 titles I’ll be playing this year they’ll all be exclusives (Heavy Rain, inFamous, Uncharted 2), but after this year… I have no idea. I’m invested in the online community on Live and without any discernible superiority in PS3 multi-platform releases, what incentive do I have to go back?
Good article mate. I also find it interesting what happens to the non-exclusive version of a game. Sometimes, those who wait it out for said exclusive period to finish, end up with extra content or those little tweaks to the game that have come to fruition during public release. It can be a double edged blade, since you could end up with a far better version of the game just by waiting…
i think kudos to Atari for getting one over on Sony and making the game region free
Metal gear is the killer for me, i want to play 4 so bad it hurts but there just isnt enough other games for me to justify buying a PS3….yet.
Tekken would have been the straw-breaker for me…. until I heard it was coming to the 360….
I suppose wipeout and MGS4 would twist my arm …. but a substantial price drop is more likely to get me to commit that more exclusives.
Funnily enough I saw an article yesterday saying that Sony thought European players would ignore the price point if they had the games and the features. I think I may just email them your comment.